D’Estaing’s militia plan stripped free-coloreds of officer rank

Evidence

When d’Estaing arrived as governor a few years after the war, he introduced a plan to make free-coloreds “the backbone of colonial defense.” All men of African descent would be required to serve in the militia, without the right to purchase exemptions as whites could. At the same time, d’Estaing declared it would no longer be possible for free-coloreds to serve as officers in their units—as Ollivier, Auba, and others had done for decades. To soften the racial discrimination of the plan, he proposed that anyone who had less than one-eighth African ancestry be decreed officially white. This aspect of the proposal enraged many colonial whites, and d’Estaing was unable to institute his reforms, although a ban on free-colored officers was instituted. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 235

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

Related

• Free-colored militia service made them indispensable yet French policy rewarded them with officer bans (similarity 0.89)
• Colonial authorities restricted free-colored military roles as racial hierarchies tightened (similarity 0.88)

Broader Connections

• d’Estaing proposed whiteness be redefined by blood quantum to soften militia conscription #expands (0.60)